Belgian port authority says could not have detected bodies found in UK-bound truck
Record ID:
1438495
Belgian port authority says could not have detected bodies found in UK-bound truck
- Title: Belgian port authority says could not have detected bodies found in UK-bound truck
- Date: 24th October 2019
- Summary: ZEEBRUGGE, BELGIUM (FILE - APRIL 8, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PORT ACTIVITY TRUCKS QUEUING
- Embargoed: 7th November 2019 14:20
- Keywords: 39 people dead truck Chinese nationals port of Zeebrugge Essex
- Location: ZEEBRUGGE, BELGIUM
- City: ZEEBRUGGE, BELGIUM
- Country: Belgium
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice
- Reuters ID: LVA002B2GJMFB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The head of the Zeebrugge port said on Thursday (October 24) it was not possible for them to detect the 39 people who were found dead in a truck near London on Wednesday (October 23) when they went through the Belgian port.
Paramedics and police found the bodies of 31 men and eight women on Wednesday in a truck container on an industrial estate at Grays in Essex, about 20 miles (32 km) east of London. The trailer part of the truck arrived at Purfleet docks in Essex, southern England, from the Belgian port of Zeebrugge.
Belgium's federal prosecutors, who handle cases of terrorism and organised crime, said on Thursday they had opened an investigation into the transport. Prosecutors said it was unclear when and where the victims were loaded inside.
Dirk De Fauw, the mayor of Bruges and the chair of Zeebrugge port, said that security at the port was high, with sniffer dogs, heat scanners to determine if people are hidden in the trucks, and patrols around the port. But he added that some trailers were too tightly sealed or too cold to allow the systems to detect a presence inside.
British police had been given extra time on Thursday to question the driver arrested on suspicion of murder in an investigation focused on human trafficking. All those in the container - 38 adults and one teenager - were pronounced dead at the scene after the emergency services were called to the Waterglade Industrial Park, not far from docks on the River Thames.
De Fauw told Reuters he believed they were dead before arriving in Zeebrugge.
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